Originally Posted by Cathe
Having written a few bylaws in my time... I imagine that they are talking about "men" as regards the spouses of the members. If a man was the member and wanted to bring his non-member wife, you would have the same problem -- nonmembers wanting the same benefits as the dues-paying members.
Children are an obvious potential distraction/disruption in a formal meeting, and I can see that non-quilting, non-member spouses might be, too. The goal is to have a focused membership who are there to learn about quilting. Social interaction is nice, but the monthly meetings are often quite structured "business/lecture" meetings.
I think that could well be true. The previous quote was from their "Policies" section of the bylaws. The following is from the "Membership" section:
"Membership in the xxxx Guild shall be open to any lady who has an interest in quilts and quilting."
It's from those two clauses that seem to be expressly stating the intent of a women only guild. But I could be reading more into it than what's there. Anyway, I plan to ask quietly about it and see what the response it. It may be (and I hope it is) that the intent is simply to keep it focused on quilters and not their non-quilting spouses.